Meta executives revealed increased daily usage on Instagram among teen users during testimony in Los Angeles County Superior Court in February, sparking a heated debate over the platform’s impact on youth mental health.
The trial in K.G.M. v. Platforms et al. will determine whether social media companies are liable for youth mental health issues. Snap and TikTok settled before the trial began, while executives from Meta and YouTube are providing testimony. The plaintiff, 19-year-old K.G.M., alleges that using social media at a young age led to addiction, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
Meta disputes that Instagram is responsible for these struggles. “The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media,” Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway said. Internal documents presented during the trial showed that Instagram knew of approximately 4 million children under 13 on the platform in 2015, representing 30% of all 10- to 12-year-olds in the U.S.
Mark Zuckerberg testified that he answered Congress honestly in 2024 when stating the company’s policy that children under 13 are not allowed on Instagram. He stated that the company removes underage users it finds. However, internal documents revealed that the app’s daily usage grew to 46 minutes per day in 2026, up from 40 minutes in 2023.
Zuckerberg also stated that internal “milestones” were not specific goals set for Instagram’s team. However, a 2017 internal email stated that Zuckerberg decided the company’s top priority for the first half of the year was teens. Another email from a product manager stated that the company’s overall goal was “total teen time spent.” An internal market landscape from December 2018 found that tweens were the “highest retention age group” in the U.S.
Internal testimony indicated that Meta’s current hope is for Instagram to be the largest teen destination by monthly active users in the U.S. and globally this year. Meta began asking for ages at sign-up for new users in 2019. Instagram began requiring all users to enter birthdays in August 2021 to address its existing underage user base.
Nick Clegg, a former adviser to Zuckerberg, stated that Instagram’s age requirements were “unenforceable.” Clegg left the company last year.
